Different
by thatgirlstaring
Summary: Ichigo meets someone in the rain and they talk. Horrible summary.
1. Chapter 1

I came up with this today, it rained for twenty minutes today, the most and longest it had rained in two months. I was standing out in it today I thought of this scenario in my head and had to write it down, sorry if you don't like it but its what I wanted to write today.

DISCLAIMER: Surprisingly I don't own Bleach….huh…maybe that's why I have student loans.

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**Different**

Rain, he hated the rain, it oozed down your neck and soaked your clothes, it was a horrible mistake of nature on his opinion. The only thing he hated worse than the rain was finding and killing hollows in the rain, especially if it was five thirty in the morning on a Saturday.

"One Saturday is all I ask." He shook his head and water droplets sprayed off into the already soggy morning. Staring at his feet he plodded home, sword over shoulder, orange hair slopping into his eyes. "I need a haircut, I'll ask Yuzu later." He let his mind wander as he walked toward his home and bed and it was the sound of humming and a splash of red that pulled him out of his own world and back to the present.

Head tilted up, arms limp at her sides, and her clothes and hair plastered to her body a girl stood out in the rain humming and smiling with her eyes closed.

Being invisible to normal people has its perks, for one you don't get seen walking around town in a strange outfit, carrying a rather large sword. Other reasons would include but not be limited to the fact that they couldn't see you as you stared at them standing in the rain. He came closer to her and recognized that she was the girl that had moved in two doors down from his own home.

Quiet was how Yuzu and Karin had described her when they had come back from delivering some cookies Yuzu had made to welcome her to the town.

"She didn't talk much, just smiled a lot and told us thank you for welcoming her." Karin didn't have much interest in her, but Yuzu had been worried that there was something wrong with her. She had begged Ichigo to go with her to check on her again, but he had been so busy lately that he hadn't had time to go with her, and Yuzu was to shy to go by herself.

He went closer to her and she let her head fall back to its normal forward facing appearance with her eyes still closed. He wasn't sure if that was a reaction to him being so close or if in a more likely conclusion that she had just gotten tired of tilting her head up. He wasn't sure why he was this close to her, but it was as if his curiosity of why she seemed to love the rain so much outweighed his own dislike of it, and if he looked at her close enough the answer would write itself out on her skin.

Looking around again to make sure no one who could see him was around he turned back to her and looked at her again, through the droplets on her cheeks he could see she had freckles, and that she was not Japanese, probably why she didn't talk much. A piece of her hair was plastered to her cheek on one side, and a droplet of water dangled off of her nose and every minute or two she would lick her lips to get the moisture off of them. He stood up and scratched the back of his head, he couldn't understand why she would be out here this early in the morning standing in the rain humming to herself. He sighed and let his hand fall back to his side with a slap of wet fabric.

She opened her eyes at that moment and he stood stock still as she looked right at him and tilted her head to the side and frowned. "Hello." She wrinkled her nose and smiled at his shock, wiping the piece of hair off of her face.

He didn't say anything to her, didn't move, hardly breathed as she stood there and stared at him. "Okay." She closed her eyes again but the rain was down to a drizzle now and she frowned before opening her eyes again, but he was gone. Jumping onto the roof as soon as she had closed her eyes he had escaped her unsettling perception of him standing in front of her. "I'm sorry, if I…offended you." She seemed to stop and think between her words, a sign that he was right. "Your sister… she brought me cookies…correct? They were good." She looked around to see where he had gone and shrugged, maybe she needed to practice her speaking more, perhaps she had said something wrong.

"The rain, why do you like it?" He said it in English, he figured he would make it easy for her to speak and understand, he was almost fluent in the language, it had been a bit of a hobby in school and at home before his life had changed. He was still on the roof, he figured he shouldn't let her see him dressed like this incase she told people about it. She was quiet as she looked up to the roof where he was hiding and shrugged. "There was never much rain where I grew up, it was always dry and hot." she wiped the water from her eyelashes and wrinkled her nose again.

"Do you not like it?" she seemed concerned, and slightly offended at his lack of love for the wet and cold. Blinking she waited for him to answer her, the sun was coming up, she would have to go back inside soon, or risk the neighbors labeling her as that strange girl who stood in the rain.

He sighed and wiped his hair back from his eyes and stared at her, the strange girl who stood in the rain, he wasn't sure if he wanted Yuzu hanging around her, no matter how normal she seemed. "It's complicated and not really right to discuss with strangers." He waited for her to answer him but when he looked back over the edge she was opening her door to go inside. She was wringing the water out of her red skirt and short hair, kicking her sandals to the side as she looked over her shoulder to the now awake street. "Tell Yuzu that she can visit whenever she likes, and thank her for the cookies." She closed the door behind her and left him outside to ponder over the conversation that they had just had.

Climbing into his window several minutes later and back into his dry body to sleep for another hour before his sister came to wake him up for breakfast, he realized that he had not asked her name, and she hadn't asked for his, and that she hadn't seemed the least bit disturbed that he had been examining her so closely while she stood still in the pouring rain, like a plant opening its leaves and petals to accept the water, like her life depended on it.

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Thank you for reading this, I don't know if I should continue or not, your feedback would be much appreciated. But I know that people are lazy and don't like to review, I'll give you a cookie…


	2. Chapter 2

I've decided to continue this. Not that anyone cares really… I appreciate the one person that's read this story this month.

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The first time he heard her name it had come from surprisingly enough his father who didn't seem to pay attention to much of anything going on outside the clinic or his family. It made him instantly suspicious of what his father was doing talking about the new girl so he listened from his seat in the living room seemingly disinterested.

"Ana-Chan is the loveliest girl I've met in a long time. Such a good influence for you to have her in the neighborhood, maybe you could take Karin over with you the next time you go see her." He was practically gushing over this girl, Ichigo hadn't heard his father this interested in someone since he had met Rukia. Apparently Yuzu had been to see her again, and curiously she had decided to take Isshin instead of Ichigo or Karin.

Ichigo tuned out of the conversation to think about the girl that he had accidentally run into while she was doing something odd as far as he was concerned. Standing in the rain and enjoying it was not on Ichigos list of normal things to do on a Saturday morning. No matter what his dad said he wasn't sure that Yuzu should be going to see that girl at all, so he decided to go and meet her formally. She wasn't supposed to know that he existed, she wasn't supposed to have seen him that morning, he was in Soul Reaper form when he had stopped to look at her, another reason he was wary of her.

"Ichigo?" Yuzu had her small face in front of her brothers getting in his line of sight so he would pay attention to her. "Yes Yuzu?" He sighed and blinked. "Well I've been saying your name for the past three minutes and you've just been sitting there staring off into space." She smiled at him an unsure smile, she had been catching on that he had been acting strange lately, always seeming to not be all there when he was being talked to.

"Sorry, I guess I didn't hear you." he sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose before giving her the smile he reserved only for her. "What did you need?" Yuzu smiled more brightly and stood up fully, pulling back from his face and giving him space.

"Well I was going to go down the street and visit with the new neighbor and bring her some dinner, she seems to eat out a lot." Just like Yuzu to be worried about the nutritional intake of a neighbor she barely new. "And you want me to help you carry stuff over or what?" He sounded surprised, maybe this is what his dad had been planning when he started talking louder than normal.

"Well she's met the entire family except for you and I thought it would be nice of you to go and visit her and introduce yourself." Ichigo sighed and ran his hand through his hair and stood up to get the covered dish from the kitchen and then put his shoes on, this was sure to be an interesting trip. He prayed that she wouldn't blurt out that she had seen him inspecting her with a huge sword and funny clothes in the early morning, he didn't need Yuzu to worry about him or the girl anymore than she did.

They were down the street and ringing the doorbell within the next few minutes, and they heard a girls voice call out to them. "Coming! Sorry, hang on!" They heard a thump and then the door opened up to the girl that Ichigo had seen stood there very dry and looking slightly red and dusty. Up close Ichigo could see that her hair wasn't black the way it had looked in the rain but a very dark brown that looked almost red in the sunlight coming through the door.

"Hello Yuzu! Thank you for coming by again today, I get so bored after being cooped up here all day long." She waved them in, she hadn't even seemed to notice that Ichigo was standing there, he couldn't tell if she was doing it on purpose or if she was like Orihime in the respect that she was acting a bit ditzy. "Oh, hello there, I'm sorry I didn't say hello when you were at the door but…" She looked at Yuzu and shrugged as she bowed hello to Ichigo and took the dish from his hand in one swift movement.

Yuzu took off her shoes and Ichigo followed suit as they made their way into the kitchen where Ana was taking the lid off of the food. "Oh thanks so much Yuzu, I'm getting tired of takeout but really you don't have to keep doing this, I can cook but I've got so much cleaning to do its just easier to order out." She seemed a bit ashamed that a girl so much younger than her was bringing her dinner.

Ichigo just stood there staring at the strange girl, Karin was right, she did thank people a lot, for all sorts of things, coming by, bringing food, answering the door. Odd, that was the word for her, odd. "I'm Ichigo, I know we haven't met before and I'm sorry that I didn't come with my sisters or father earlier to introduce myself." He bowed after introducing himself normally and came back up just in time to see her look of curiosity as she watched him. "Oh, nice to meet you to Ichigo, I think I've seen you wandering around from time to time." She giggled and spoke to Yuzu again for awhile while Ichigo just watched in confusion.

"Oh no!" Yuzu let out a sudden exclamation and stood up and began walking for the door. "Yuzu! Where are you going?" She turned around as she was slipping on her shoes and looked at him. "I forgot that I made desert to and I forgot it in the fridge back home. I'll be right back." and she went out the door leaving Ichigo with the extremely strange girl who was now staring at him intently.

Ana shook her head and looked away from him and stood up sighing in seeming defeat. He just watched her move across the room to a chair climb on top of it and pull herself into at square opening in the ceiling. He sat there for a moment and looked at the ceiling and listened to the scuffling noises coming from above before he went to look up into where she had disappeared.

"What are you doing?" The words came out harsher than he had meant and he sighed before closing his eyes and waiting for her response, what he got when he opened his eyes was the sight of her hung upside down out of the hole looking at him curiously. "I'm cleaning." She shook her head and a few strands of hair escaped from her ponytail. "I could ask what you were doing the other morning looking at me like I was a very interesting specimen that you had happened across. And what was with the clothes and the jumbo sword?" She looked over his shoulder and seemed to think for a moment, "I can tell that Yuzu and the rest of your family don't know that your running around looking like a nut in the wee hours of the morning." She pulled herself back into the hole and resumed cleaning from what he could hear.

He went and stood on the chair, he was taller than her but not my much, which was odd for him, he was used to girls being much shorter than him, but the girl reminded him of Chad so he supposed that's where she got it. "Well your right about the last thing and I would appreciate if you didn't tell anyone about that." He didn't want to explain anything to her, they didn't even know each other really. "And I was just curious as to why you were standing out in the rain that early in the morning, you looked….I don't know." He sighed and stepped off the chair, she didn't seem to be paying attention to him anyways and Yuzu was due back any minute. Moving around the room he looked around and noticed that most stuff was still in boxes and there were books, piles and piles of books, some looking worn and some brand new in a way like they had only been read once or twice. There were the normal furnishings but other than that the place was pretty empty.

"Being nosey are we?" She had climbed out of the hole and took a good long look at him, almost eye to eye. "Your not really normal yourself are you?" and he couldn't answer because at that moment Yuzu came in with a cake she had made for Ana with the most cheerful look on her face and Ichigo knew that the conversation was over for now.

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Wow…. That one was long. I felt like extending this so sorry if your disappointed that it wasn't finished. Have a nice day!!


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks so much for your review and your constructive help! Hopefully I can keep up the good work.

OOOOO!!!! LOOK! A disclaimer.

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That day had been strange to say the least Ichigo didn't know what to make of it, and he didn't know if he should mention her ability to see him or not to anyone else. "Nah…" he shook his head as he continued down the street from school to his house, he was pretty sure that she didn't know what she had seen that morning and the chances that she would see it again were slim.

Hollow attacks had been going down lately and he was never really close to his house, and the girl never seemed to leave hers for long periods of time. Not that he was paying that much attention to her but he just noticed things like that, and Yuzu had mentioned something yesterday about how Ana is always home.

Rukia wasn't due back for a visit for another few weeks or he would have told her, but right now the only person to talk to about the current situation was hat-n-clogs and he really didn't want to get him involved. "Stupid guy would probably just go and bother her."

"Bother who?" If Ichigo was startled you wouldn't have been able to tell, but she had scared him a little bit with the way she had just shown up at his elbow walking alongside him. "No one, I was just… talking to myself." He didn't want her to know he had been talking to himself about her, she was weird and might take it the wrong way.

Ana looked at him for a moment before shrugging and readjusting her grip on the grocery bag that she was carrying, she had finally gotten her house clean and was going to finally cook dinner for herself. "Well, its healthy to talk to yourself, my abuelita always said so." She reached into the bag and brought out an apple, "Want one?" smiling she held it out to him, he clearly didn't want to talk very much today.

Now Ichigo wasn't stupid, he had heard a word like that somewhere before but he couldn't place where at the moment so he took the apple from her when she offered it and looked down at her. "Thanks," he thought for a moment before continuing, "So who told you that again?"

Munching on a carrot she swallowed her bite before quirking her eyebrow and giggling. "Oh, sorry, my grandma told me that." Ana didn't offer anymore explanation than that and continued munching on her carrot. "Well here's my house, tell Yuzu to come by later and I'll feed her for once!" She waved at him as she opened the door to her house and went inside. Deciding that maybe she wasn't so weird and maybe just a little strange he continued to his house and delivered the message to Yuzu who looked ecstatic that the neighbor girl had asked her over again.

"Would you like to come with me Ichigo?" She was in the kitchen making everyone else's dinner before she went over to Ana's. "You seemed to have had a good time when we went a few days ago." Karin poked her head around the corner in a disinterested fashion but she just wanted to see the show that was about to start.

"What?!" The thud that came from the kitchen was Isshin hitting the ground as Ichigo tripped him before he could get closer. "My son grabbing the attention of the lovely new neighbor?" He got up and tried to hug Karin but she dodged him and took up a post on the couch. "Oh Masaki!" He threw himself at the poster that he still had on the wall despite the complaints of the children and started to cry out his joy that his only son was now attracting the right kind of woman.

"Whatever." Ichigo stomped upstairs and Karin lost interest, Yuzu however went to console their father, set the table and serve the food before leaving to Ana's. "Daddy, you shouldn't do that to Ichigo, he doesn't like it and it makes him…nervous." She didn't want to say embarrassed but that was what it was. "I'll be back later!" and out she went into the night to go two houses down to eat dinner.

Statistically speaking the majority of life threatening accidents happen within ten feet of our own homes, but no one ever thinks about it because to all of us home is the safest place in the world; however this statistic came to strike young Yuzu as she passed the nearest house and was knocked down by something she couldn't see. "Ow!" She thumped to the ground and looked around for what she had tripped on but didn't see anything.

"Yuzu?" Ana was at her door looking down the sidewalk at the girl when the second thing happened. Something grabbed Yuzu by the collar and dragged her across the pavement into the street seemingly walking away with her. "Hey! What the hell?" Ana grabbed a knife from inside the house and dashed out after the young girl, the thing that had her by the shirt couldn't be believed it was big and insect like but it had a face with a mask on it that revealed many rows of huge teeth. "Yuzu! What is that?"

"Where? What's going on? Help!" It all became clear to Ana that poor little Yuzu couldn't see whatever it was that she was seeing. "I'm coming!" running as fast as she could Ana reached the creature and stabbed at its wrist until it let go of Yuzu and turned on them with an ear-splitting roar of hate.

"Oh no." It was all she could get out before she wrapped herself around Yuzu and put her back to the monster that was getting ready to smash them to a pulp. But the blow never came, the creature roared again followed by a very distinct exclamation of the word bastard coming from someone close by. She looked over her shoulder in time to see that thing disintegrate and Ichigo put his sword away, "What was that?" this time he jumped.

"What? Oh… uh… that was, something dangerous." He seemed to be groping for words as he walked towards them, she recognized the outfit he had been wearing when she had first seen him, that and the sword.

"Well obviously it was something dangerous." She looked down to see if Yuzu was okay only to be met by very questioning eyes and a worried expression. "Ana-chan? Are you okay?" Yuzu sat up and looked around them with wide eyes. "Who were you talking to just now?" She looked around but she didn't see anything or anyone, she couldn't explain what had just happened to her but she supposed she must have hit her head when she tripped and imagined it. "Did you hit your head too?" She remembered Ana running for her but she didn't think about the rest.

"Uh… Yeah I'm fine Yuzu, don't worry about me I'm sturdy." She clapped her hands and helped Yuzu to her feet, "How about that dinner?" She wasn't completely sure what was going on here but it was something strange, she looked at Ichigo who was standing there looking at his sister before he looked at Ana meaningfully and turned to leave.

"Yeah, yeah I won't say anything, I'm not stupid." she said all of this under her breath but Yuzu must have heard something cause she looked up at the girl still worried. "Did you say something?"

"No, no, just… talking to myself." She looked back over her shoulder but all she saw was an empty street. "Come on." And they went into her house, one completely ignoring what had just happened, and the other mulling over it while she served the food.

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Incase your wondering I'm saving the conversation between her and Ichigo for the next chapter, this one was long enough. As always reviews are appreciated, but just knowing that people read this is comforting to. But reviews are better


	4. Chapter 4

So, this story has been more popular than my other one, so I figured I should keep writing. Thanks for the reviews from my two loyal readers, and thanks for the reads from everyone out there who took the time. It means a lot trust me.

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Yuzu had come home from dinner that night with a cut on her knee and scrapes on the backs of her legs where she was dragged, or where she had fallen in her account. Ana had put ointment and bandages on them but their father still took a look at them with a worried expression on his face over the small cuts and bruises on his childs legs.

"What happened Yuzu?" Isshin was for once serious, he knew what had happened from Ana who had brought his daughter home after their dinner. When she had turned to leave he had seen the glint of the knife that she had clutched almost out of sight in her right hand, and he wondered again what had really happened.

Yuzu hadn't noticed the knife but she had noticed that Ana had been acting strangely, "Well, I was walking and I guess I tripped on something and hit my head because I thought that something was dragging me but that's silly. Then Ana was there and she took me inside and fed me and bandaged up my legs." She smiled up at her father as he replaced the bandages and let her go up the stairs after a quick goodnight, and then he went to his room as well to worry over his son and daughters, and the various messes that they were in.

The next afternoon Ichigo was walking around the town, he needed to think about what to say to Ana when she eventually came asking about what had happened last night, he knew it would be soon because she didn't seem like that kind of girl to just let it go.

It was getting dark by the time Ichigo started home wondering what Yuzu was cooking for dinner and if he should start on his homework before or after eating.

"That was some pretty impressive fighting last night you know?" Ana was standing in front of him on the sidewalk outside her door with a look of extreme interest on her face. "But I'm guessing you don't get a lot of compliments for your fighting because no one else can see you." She walked closer to him and he again thought about how tall she was, secretly wondering if she had come from Mexico like Chad.

Ichigo backed away from her, she wasn't all that intimidating but he didn't know what he should say or do, he didn't even know if she would get in trouble for knowing to much about him and the other Shinigami.

She got closer to him again, she wanted to know what that thing was that had attacked Yuzu and had turned on them both with the intention to kill them. "What are you?" She looked him straight in the eye and stood only inches away from his still form. "I had been wondering since that morning, but I can't think of anything." She stared at him a little longer and shook her head, "Fine, whatever, I guess I should just start asking around to see if anyone knows anything about what's going on." She turned away from him and opened her door to leave him out on the street but his hand around her wrist prevented her from getting through the door. "That's not a good idea for you to go around asking about things like that." Ana yanked her arm away from him and glared at him while he looked at the ground and not at her. "Well then what's going on? What was that thing that attacked your sister? Why are you running around town at random times dressed like a nut killing monsters with a giant sword?"

She looked around the street and reached out suddenly and pulled him inside her house and closed the door. "Umm… what are you doing?" He didn't like the thought of being alone in a dark hallway with a girl who was as demanding very private information from him. "I'm giving you privacy so you can explain yourself cause you obviously don't want to do so outside." He heard her feeling along the wall and was blinded by the light in the hall and when he finally adjusted his sight he just caught the edge of her skirt going around the corner to where he knew the living room was and he could hear the water running in the kitchen.

"Well, I don't know how to explain it exactly." Ichigo walked forward down the hall towards where she was and saw her leaning against the sink waiting for the kettle to boil so she could make tea. "Well try your best and I'll ask questions when I need to." Ana drummed her fingers on the edge of the counter and watched him expectantly as he put his hand to his head and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

The following hour was filled with explanations of Shinigami, which she didn't believe in until he popped out of his body to show her; and hollows like the one she had encountered, which she did believe in because she had seen one for herself. "So it's your job to take ghost from this world to the next? That about it?" She was sipping at her cooling tea and sitting at the kitchen table tapping her foot on the ground.

"Yeah, that's the short version of what I just told you." He now wasn't sure about what to tell her, he had left out Orihime, Chad and Uryu, he didn't want them to be told about since it was their business if this girl knew what they could do. "Now, you have to swear not to tell anyone about anything that I just told you, especially my family." He drained his tea and stared at her, for a person who seemed to be skeptical in all things, especially trust, she seemed to be taking it all very well.

Ana stood up and walked to the kitchen to put away their cups, "Well why would I tell anyone about anything you've told me? They'll just think I'm crazy and I'll end up in the loony bin." Sometimes she had a strange way of putting things, "Thank you for telling me all of this though, its good to know that if one of those… Hollows, comes after me again you'll take care of it. I plan on living for the next twenty years of so."

He had followed her to the kitchen and was watching her wash the cups when he decided that he wanted to start asking some questions of his own. "Why are you so tall?" It sounded harsh the way he said it, and he noticed that she stopped washing and turned off the water with heavy movements. "So I guess you've noticed…" She didn't continue, just seemed to slump against the counter, he wasn't sure why she was so touchy about it but he decided to try and remedy the situation. "Well I only ask cause the majority of girls are shorter than me by a lot and well your almost as tall as me, and I know your not from around here so I guess I was just wondering if it the height ran in your family and where your from so I could understand better…" It wasn't often that he ranted or talked this long, but this girl seemed to have the effect of Yuzu or Yoruichi when they had caught him doing something that he shouldn't have.

"Oh quit it." She turned around to face him and straightened her back, "I'm from a small town in Texas, but I decided to move here awhile back and I've just recently gotten the money to do so. As for the height well… yeah, everyone in my family was tall." She looked at him again and the hurt in her eyes was there for a moment and then it was gone as she turned away from him to answer the phone that had started to ring during his questioning.

'Everyone in my family was tall.' Ichigo thought about that sentence, was, that word seemed to jab at him in the worst kind of way, did that mean that they were all gone, that she didn't have anyone in the world to call family?

"Ichigo." She was back in front of him with the phone pressed to her chest and he tried to see if there were any indicators in her face as to what kind of tragedy had struck her. "Ichigo?" She flicked him between the eyes and he seemed to snap out of his pondering. "Yeah?"

"Your dad is on the phone and he says that if your not home for dinner in five minutes he's going to lock you out of the house." She seemed amused by this statement but the look in her eye told him that she was thinking hard about something. "Okay, tell him I'll be home." She nodded and relayed the message to Isshin, and after a teary goodbye on his fathers part she hung up the phone and looked back at Ichigo who was now staring at her so intently that she was reminded of the day that she had first seen him.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" The question went unanswered however as he stepped closer to her and looked into her face trying to find the lines of sorrow and misery etched in her face, wondering what she had done to block out what he was sure were depressing memories. He stared at her for a few moments longer before she took a breath and stepped away from him, "You need to go home Ichigo, I don't want to talk about it."

He blinked again and watched her turn around and lean against the sink, "Okay, I understand." And he did understand, better than she would probably know, "I'll tell Yuzu you said hi." She didn't turn around until she heard the door close and the familiar shouts from two houses down as Isshin greeted his son in his unusual violent way. "Goodnight." and then she cried.


	5. Chapter 5

**Yay! So I've got one more reviewer, and he seems to like the story the way it is so if your not happy don't read it. If you are happy with it then go ahead and enjoy this new chapter.**

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**Ana had not spoken to Ichigo in a few days, and he hadn't tried to speak to her either. Yuzu had come by everyday to either say hi or have a cup of tea, and she had tried to worm out the reason why she had seemed depressed for the past days. "Nothing is wrong, I guess I'm just not feeling well." That had been her excuse, Ana hated lying to Yuzu but this was one of those times that a lie was necessary to keep the girl happy.**

**A week after the incident another strange thing happened, she ran into the most unusual person she could ever remember meeting. Walking home from the store that afternoon, she had heard shouting come from the vicinity of her street but ignored it, she was sure it was just the Kurosaki family having another lively debate. Not wanting to get involved incase Isshin looked out and caught her to ask her opinion of whatever they were arguing about she hurried to her door only to get run over by a rather tall man grumbling to himself about that stupid berry head.**

"**Ow! Hey, watch where your going!" She had dropped her groceries on impact and they lay scattered on the sidewalk. "It's not my fault that you can't see someone in front of you! "She looked up from the spilled food to the person that had run into her, he was wearing the strangest assortment of clothes, bell bottoms, sandals with socks, a bright loud shirt and the ugliest hat she had happed to come across. "Oh wow, who dressed you today?" it was out of her mouth before she could stop it.**

"**What's wrong with the way I dress?" He pulled off the hat so he could get a better look at the girl in front of him, she was tall but only came up to his collarbone but other than that she was small, small hands, small body, everything very compact. "Well… are you going to answer me?"**

**Ana frowned at him and bent down to pick up her food before it got stepped on by other people passing by. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you." She reached for a can by his foot but he stepped on it and leaned over to look at her again. "Excuse me but I need that can, I bought it and I intend to eat it." She then noticed the two truly distinct things about him as she held eye contact with him, his extensive forehead tattoos, and the color of his hair, previously hidden by his hat. "I want you to answer me first, what's wrong with the way I dress?" She reached out and yanked the can out from under his foot almost making him lose his balance and stood up with her groceries all back where they belonged. **

"**You dress like you've missed a couple of decades, that's all." She didn't noticed how he stiffened in the slightest, he had in fact missed out on more than a couple of decades in the human world. "Oh, well, I like these clothes." He was looking down at himself when he heard a laugh coming from the girl standing in front of him.**

"**I'm sure you do, they're colorful like you." She gestured to his hair and hitched the bag up on her hip so she could stick look at him better. "I'm Ana Cruz, nice to meet you." She gave a slight bow and switched the groceries from one side to another waiting for him to introduce himself. **

**Renji wasn't sure what to make of this girl, first she was mad at him cause he had made her drop her bag and now she was acting like the friendliest person in the world. "Uh, well it's nice to meet you to…" he didn't get to finish introducing himself however because a certain seething orange headed boy was walking down the sidewalk glaring at him. "Renji, what are you doing?" He looked at Ana for a moment but then averted his look to Renji, "You were shouting for me to come out and talk to you now what do you want?"**

**So it had been them shouting at each other, and apparently Renji had been outside while this was happening, hence the noise level when she had come home. "Well, I'll just be going." She didn't want to talk to Ichigo just yet, and she was afraid that if she stuck around Renji would want to know how they knew each other, she knew guys and how their friends could be. "Nice to meet you Renji," She looked back at the two of them, "Ichigo." She bowed a little and turned to walk past them to her door when Ichigo yelled after her.**

"**Ana! Hey wait up!" She could hear his quick footsteps as he caught her just before she finished unlocking her door, damn, why did she have to be so slow with her keys. "What is it? Do you have a message from Yuzu?" She wasn't looking at his face but over his shoulder where Renji stood looking at the two of them slightly confused. "No, I don't, I was just wondering if anything has been bothering you lately when your out." She knew what he meant, and by the way he said it she wasn't sure if Renji knew about his secret or not.**

**She shook her head and a few stray pieces of hair fell out of the clip at the back of her head, "No, nothing has been bothering me, only bad thing that's happened to me all week is Renji there knocking my groceries all over." She gestured to the bag in her hands and Renji decided that this was the time to sidle forward to join the conversation, he couldn't tell what was going on between Ichigo and this girl but it was interesting.**

"**I never apologized for that did I?" He scratched the back of his head where his mass of hair was tied up in a ponytail and spiked out, whether natural or chemically assisted, she couldn't tell. "No you didn't, but that's okay, nothing was ruined." She opened the door to her apartment and stepped inside, "If you two want to come in you can, if I don't get some of this stuff in the freezer soon it won't be any good." She held it open for the two of them and Ichigo stepped forward and held the door for her so she could go in unimpeded by the door, "Thank you." She looked away from him and walked into the hallway and took off her shoes, Ichigo and Renji soon followed.**

**Her home looked different than the last time he had seen it, the books were now in three bookshelves against the wall, the hole in the roof had been closed off and there were no more boxes. "You did a lot of unpacking."**

**Renji thought that this was strange, Ichigo had been here before he was sure of that but he was surprised since he was such a prude that he hadn't been here alone, at least not for long. "Nice place you have here." Renji's stomach had a strange habit of knowing when it was near a food source because right on cue it started grumbling like he was going to die. "Oh, sorry, I haven't eaten since lunch." He rubbed the back of his head and patted his stomach at the same time, an action that came with a lot of practice she was sure. **

**Ana looked him up and down, he was taller than Ichigo and she could see now that she looked at Renji more closely that he had more tattoos than she had originally thought, "If you want to stay for dinner I guess I could feed you, not that you look like your starving." She giggled and put the pots and pans on the stove that she was going to use. "Ichigo are you staying too?" She had made it a question, and he could hear that the laugh had gone from her voice, she was obviously remembering what he knew about her. "Uh… I guess I could, if you don't mind, just cause Renji here isn't always the most polite." **

"**I'm not the most polite?" Renji stepped up in Ichigos face and started telling him off about how he was polite and that he was only rude to him because it was fun. The laughing is what cut off the argument, "You guys fight like my brothers…" She stopped mid sentence and turned back to the stove to finish cooking, "It's good to fight sometimes, it lets off steam." Renji wondered what that was all about but suddenly Ichigo was acting strange as well, like he knew something about her that neither of them wanted to acknowledge. **

"**I think I'm going to go home for a minute to tell dad and Yuzu that I won't be needing dinner tonight." Ichigo stared at her back for a minute before sighing and turning to leave "Renji behave while I'm gone." and he walked out of the room and they could hear the door closing.**

"**What was that all about?" Renji the always blunt one wanted to know what was going on between the Substitute and this girl. "Nothing, it was nothing." She turned and looked at him with a look that said that the subject was closed. "How long did it take to get those tattoos?" She had left the stove and walked over to where he stood at the counter to get a closer look. Renji backed up a bit, he liked invading others personal space but when his own was on the line he liked to have it rather than not.**

"**Oh, not to long, they're all just bits and pieces really, they all connect though." He was proud of his marking, they made him different and showed his many achievements, but she wouldn't know that. She took another step closer and looked at them, "They all connect? How many more do you have?" She was genuinely curious, he had had friends that had tattoos all over and she missed them all, the ink made them distinct. "A lot." was all he said, he didn't know what to make of her, she obviously had no problem with personal space the way she was looking at his face with as much scrutiny as a mother inspecting her childs room for anything dirty.**

"**They're very well done, I remember when I got mine it hurt a lot and I decided not to get another one for a long time." She turned back to the stove and stirred a pot of something that had started to boil over.**

"**You have a tattoo?" Not many girls he knew had tattoos, it just didn't seem proper for a girl to mark herself like that, but he supposed he couldn't judge since he had them covering his entire body. "Where is it?" He was a bit of an addict when it came to tattoos, he always went with Hisagi when he got one done just to see the work being preformed, and this girl was sure to have an interesting one.**

**She turned from the stove and looked him up and down with a small frown on her face, "I dunno if I show you or not." She turned her attention back to the food and lowered the heat to let it stew for a few moment and got out the bowls and utensils to set the table with. "Come on, if you don't want me to see it you can just tell me." He didn't know what it was about her but she was something interesting that he couldn't pass up easily, though it seemed like Ichigo would be something to overcome if he wanted to get to know her better. "Fine, just don't tell Ichigo I have one, I don't need him scowling at me anymore than he already does."**

**Renji laughed loudly at that, "He scowls at everyone like that, but I won't tell him anything." She looked at him and then at the entrance from the hallway and grabbed the collar of her shirt on the right side and pulled it down to reveal an intricate circle inked into the flesh of her right shoulder just under her collarbone, it looked slightly like his but not as sharp and big. He looked at it for a moment while she looked at his face to gauge what he thought about it before he actually spoke, "It's just something I got when I was younger, I didn't really think it through but it does have a meaning behind it so…" She stopped when he reached out and placed his index finger over it covering it completely, it was small but not to small, it suited her he decided and he rubbed it with his finger as if trying to feel the ridges of the design that were part of her now. "Renji, what are you doing?" She shivered and drew back from him putting her shirt right, she couldn't explain what had happened but she was aware of the door opening and Ichigo walking in on the two of them staring at each other.**

"**Jeez, I leave the house for fifteen minutes and you two already develop a complex." Ichigo looked between them as they snapped out of it and Ana grabbed the pot off of the stove and took it to the table. "Let's eat before it gets cold." She looked at the two of them expectantly with a fake smile that Ichigo could tell from a mile away, it had a slightly awkward silence tinge to it so he decided to play along and plopped himself down in a chair and took Ana's bowl and served her first before himself. "Hey! You're the guest, I should serve you."**

**Ichigo shrugged, "Let's just say it's an apology for getting into things you don't want to." She smiled at him and began eating her food, "Renji, eat or I'll be offended." Renji had sat and was staying quiet for now, he didn't know why he didn't what he did but he knew that it had felt different, and he wanted to feel it again, after all he was an addict for tattoos. **

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**Uh oh, haha! This was the longest chapter I've ever written, I hope you liked it, if not oh well I liked it and that's all that matters? To the three people who actually reviewed I hope you share your feedback with me again, it would be much appreciated. Thanks so much everyone and have a great day!**


	6. Chapter 6

So hi, I'm back again with another installment of this story. I've been working a lot recently so forgive me if I'm not moving fast enough, but that's just the way it is. I apologize for some grammatical errors in the last chapter, I was half asleep and sick when I wrote it. Hopefully this chapter will be more correct than the last one. And as always thank you to all of my reviewers, I got a bunch on the last chapter, glad you like the story.

Loan officers don't like when you offer them ice cream instead of money, another fact I wouldn't know if I owned Bleach.

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It had been a couple of weeks since anything of interest happened in Karakura Town, and something was bound to happen to break that lack of interest. Ana was out exploring the town again, she had gotten lost last week and it was only after she had run into a man talking to a cat that she had found her way home. So she was out and about the town looking for various routes to her house from landmarks, like parks, buildings, stores. She really didn't like getting lost, it made her feel helpless, and that was one feeling she definitely hated.

"Where am I?" She looked around and spotted the park, as she was walking towards it a hand clamped down on her shoulder and she shouted before throwing a punch at whoever it was. The lesson learned here was: never hit someone standing behind you until you know who it is. "What the hell was that for?" Renji was holding his nose as a small trickle of blood seeped from it. "I was only trying to say hello!" glaring down at Ana she looked distressed and then irritated, which he decided was not a good thing.

"Trying to say hello? What in your brain said that coming up behind someone and grabbing a hold of them without announcing yourself says 'hello'?" She looked at him in an irritated way until she saw the blood, then she turned red and mumbled something that vaguely sounded like an apology. "Come on lets go, I can't just leave you here bleeding."

She began the trek back to her house when he stopped her, "It's okay, look its already stopped bleeding." He wiped away what was left of it with the bottom of his shirt and she saw more of his tattoos, "So what were you doing out here anyways? I thought I heard you say something about being lost." She shook her head and started walking over to a tree, "No I wasn't lost, I just wasn't sure where I was."

Smiling she sat down under the tree, she had been out since this morning and it was now around noon, "Your dressed more normally today." She had pointed out to him every time that they saw each other that his clothes were a little odd, and every time she saw him his clothes became a little less odd and a little more normal.

"Thanks I guess." He looked at her, unlike most girls he knew he had never seen her in a skirt or a dress more than once, it seemed to him like she was always wearing blue jeans and a shirt, very boring in his opinion. "So you didn't tell me what you were doing out her if you weren't lost." He straightened his bandana and watched as she shrugged, "I wasn't doing anything, I was just trying to find way of getting home." She didn't tell him how she had gotten lost the week before and was now determined to know every way home that there was.

It was a normal conversation in a normal park, she was happy that her days were falling into a good pattern, she had made friends, though not exactly normal to her knowledge one was a somewhat grouchy person who fought monsters on the side and the other looked like he didn't know how to dress himself. Ichigos sisters were nice, she knew Yuzu wished that her mother was there sometimes, and that her father would be a little more grown up towards Ichigo, the only girl that Ana talked to Yuzu was like a little sister to her.

Normality never holds however, especially in Karakura Town, it seemed that Hollows knew that the peace was supposed to be disturbed and so with a howling call a Hollow went on the hunt in the park where he smelled two souls for him to eat.

"What was…." Ana shook her head and discarded the noise she had heard, she thought that Renji didn't know Ichigos secret so she would pretend like she didn't hear anything and get him and her out of there as soon as possible. "Come on, I know your hungry, lets get something to eat."

He looked at her with concern, she usually didn't act like this, he had heard the howl but he was sure that she hadn't, but he wasn't to sure after she started tugging him to get up and go. "Are you okay?" He knew Ichigo was in the area, he could feel him so he figured he ought to get Ana out of there before she got hurt by something he was sure she couldn't see.

"I'm fine, I'm just really hungry all of a sudden, and you're always hungry so I figured that we should go get some lunch." She smiled at him as she started walking away hoping that he would follow her and not think that she was a complete lunatic. Her plan was working to, Renji was following after her though he did look concerned at her sudden change in demeanor. The only thing that stopped it from going completely right was the giant hand that came crashing down in front of her knocking her to the ground, "Shit!" She looked over at where the exclamation had come from but what she saw shocked her to the very core of her being.

There were two Renji's, one dressed like Ichigo had been when she first saw him struggling to get out of the other's body. "What the hell is going on?" She looked at him in complete disbelief, this couldn't be happening, what were the odds that she would know two of these people, why hadn't Ichigo told her about Renji? Why hadn't Renji if he had know about Ichigo all this time.

Renji didn't say anything just hopped out of his body and seemed to ignore her, another giant hand came hurtling towards her, but this time it was separate from the body, rolling out of the way she bumped against his body and looked down at it, completely lifeless, what would he do if it was destroyed or injured? Grabbing under his arms she started dragging it away from the battle, she didn't know what she was going to do with it but she knew she couldn't let it get damaged.

"Ana!" She turned in time to see Ichigo running towards her with a small girl behind him, she almost didn't see her at all except for the fact that she had moved from behind him slightly and she had caught a glimpse of her face. "Ana, are you okay?" She looked up at him and nodded, "Renji is over there, I didn't know what to do with his body." She gestured to the limp form on the ground and pointed towards the monster that was currently trying to eat Renji.

"Stupid, he should have called us first if he was going to fight it by himself." The girl had finally spoken up, she was wearing the same black clothing as Ichigo and Renji so she could only assume she was with them. "Come on then Ichigo, this girl will be fine." The small girl looked over at Ana and gave a small smile, "Thank you for making sure Renji's body didn't get damaged, he always leaves it lying in the worst places." With that she and Ichigo jumped into the fray.

"Your welcome." She watched the rest of the relatively short battle sitting next to the lifeless Renji, it didn't take long, Ichigo sliced its head in half and it seemed to disintegrate into nothing. She closed her eyes after that and didn't open them until she felt someone lay their hand on her head. "Can I help you?" She looked up into the face of Renji who was looking at her with concern. "Are you okay?" She shrugged and shook her head.

"No I'm not, that's the second time one of those things has tried to eat me since I've been here, and now I find out your one of those people along with Ichigo." She wasn't mad, she just didn't understand why she wasn't at least warned by someone the consequences of having them for friends.

"Shinigami, the word for us is Shinigami." The girl had spoken again, Ana decided that she wasn't as young as she looked, the way she spoke seemed to have a certain cadence to it that only came with time.

Ana was jerked out of her thoughts by a sketchpad with cute little bunnies and things drawn on it and a simply put explanation of what Shinigami do, this was the second time she had heard this explanation and decided that Ichigo had gotten it from that girl. "Okay, I've gotten this speech before, I know what you are and what you do, I just don't understand why those things are coming after me."

"Sorry, I tried to tell Rukia that I had told you before and that you didn't need to see her crappy drawings…" whatever he was going to say next was cut off by the sketchpad whacking him so hard he fell over. "As Ichigo was about to say, you can see us, which isn't normal, though this town seems to have the highest concentration of people that are aware of such things." Rukia looked down at Ichigo who was grumbling about being hit again when she laid her hand on top of his head in the gentlest way and looked at him. "You know I don't like it when you make fun of my drawings." Ichigo stood up and looked down at Rukia and shrugged, but it wasn't in annoyance it was more of a nonchalant shrug as if he didn't want anyone to notice how soft her was for the small girl next to him. "Yeah yeah, I'm sorry okay?" Rukia smiled and turned back to Ana, "I'm Rukia Kuchiki by the way." She bowed to Ana and then continued to look at her.

"Oh sorry! I'm Ana Cruz, thank you for helping kill that thing back there." She bowed as well and returned to her standing position, "So those monsters are after me because I can see you guys?" It didn't make any sense to her but not many things did, for instance how someone could live a very long life in the afterlife only to be sent back to the world of the living to protect the world you left behind.

"Yeah they are, so really you wandering around by yourself isn't a good idea, especially if you don't know where you're going, your lucky they didn't attack you earlier this morning." Renji had finally spoken up, he was back in his body by this time but that wasn't what interested Ana, it was what he had said that caught her attention.

"This morning?" She turned towards him and saw that he had started to turn a light shade of red. "Renji I never told you how long I had been out today." She walked towards him leaving Ichigo and Rukia to look on while Ana questioned Renji. "Were you following me all day?" The question was out and Renji looked like he had just swallowed a really hot pepper, bright red and sputtering he shook his head in a very unconvincing way.

"Were you following me in case this happened?" She was very close to him now and he shrugged and scratched the back of his head, she had that look on her face that Rukia got when she didn't like the idea of being protected and was about to hit him. "Well maybe I was, what difference does it make?"

She looked up and him and did something no one expected, she hugged him. "Thank you." then she stepped away and turned back to Ichigo and Rukia to finish their conversation. "So your saying that I shouldn't go out by myself? At all? I don't like this idea, I can't just live like that."

Renji was still in the background where she had left him wondering if he would rather have been punched again, that would have been simpler, he would have known how to deal with it, a hug he wasn't to sure, he didn't know what she meant by it and it made him think, which was not one of his favorite past times.

"Well you could all just come to my shop and we'll discuss it there." They all turned to see Urahara walking up to them his fan at the ready and his ever present hat over his eyes. "Miss Cruz, I take it that you found your way home?" he lifted the brim of his hat to get a better look at her as the recognition crossed her face.

"Your that crazy guy I met who was talking to that cat." She stepped away from him as he came closer and bumped into Renji who had come to stand behind her. "That's right, but I'm far from crazy, but you'll know that soon enough. Come on, we have a lot to talk about. Especially if Miss Cruz doesn't want to be cooped up all the time." he then turned and walked away, the others started to follow and as much as Ana wanted to turn around and go home, she knew that wasn't such a good idea with those monsters on the loose so she followed behind Renji and grabbed onto the bottom of his shirt in an subconscious grab at comfort.


	7. Chapter 7

Hello there everyone! I have a question for all of you lovely people… what is wrong with chapter 4 that you don't like to read it at all? Hey whatever, its not my business but I thought it was a rather nice chapter, apparently not. Anyways thanks for the reviews and reads, and thanks to all of you who voted this story the best October fan fiction over at the Otaku Online Stop.

NOOOO!!!! I just realized something… I don't own Bleach… how sad.

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The fact that she had two friends who could change into what they called Shinigami to fight monsters called Hollows didn't really bother her anymore. The fact that two Hollows had already tried to eat her soul didn't even really phase her anymore, she had crossed that boundary with her head held high. The fact that a cat was talking to her and trying to explain who it was and who the man it the hat was threw her a little bit off kilter.

"It's a talking cat!" Ana pointed rather violently towards it almost poking it in the eye but a quick swipe of claws and she controlled herself. "I am so sorry, I just… you can talk." The cat eyed her for a few minutes before sitting back down and resuming her explanation. "My name is Yoruichi, and that man there is Kisuke Urahara, we have been aware of you for quite some time now."

Ana frowned at that and looked at the man who was sitting at the other side of the table, she didn't like that she couldn't see his eyes, more so than the fact that he was smiling in a way that said that he knew more than she did about everything.

"Yes well, we've only been aware of you for a few weeks, we didn't know about you at first until Uryu mentioned to Orihime that he thought there was someone new in town that was able to see the spirit world." Urahara seemed so unconcerned about ratting out the people who had known she existed.

Ichigo was sitting next to Rukia, he looked worried, the girl just seemed to be thinking rather hard about something. Renji on the other hand was sitting next to Ana but she was ignoring him, still kind of miffed that he hadn't told her anything about himself. "You know, I don't think I fully understand this, why are these Hollows after me? Just because I can see Ichigo, Rukia and Renji?" she pinched the bridge of her nose, she didn't know what to make of all of this.

"Well yes and no, just because you can see them doesn't make you a target though it does help." The cat had started speaking again and made Ana jump out of surprise but she settled down to listen quick enough. "Every person living or dead has what we call spirit energy, now most normal people have very little so they cannot see the spirit world at all." Yoruichi flicked her tail to the side and looked over at Ichigo, "Other people can see ghosts and such and they have a slightly elevated level of spirit energy, like Ichigo there. He could see and touch spirits before he became a Shinigami with the help of Rukia."

A disapproving look crossed Renjis' face and Ana had seen it, she looked at him curiously but he ignored her. It made Ana wonder if helping a living person become a Shinigami was something that the afterlife frowned upon.

"There are still more people with high spirit energy that can do other things, and they will be along shortly so you can meet them." This little talk finished Yoruichi hopped off the table and went and sat next to Urahara who was looking at Ana with an intense interest that she found slightly unsettling.

She tore her gaze away from Urahara to look at Renji, she still couldn't believe that he was one of those people, and that he had been following her, why? She was going to ask him later and he was going to answer even if she had to beat it out of him.

"What?" He was looking at her now, she figured he had gotten tired of ignoring her. "Nothing, I was just thinking about something." She turned away from him in time to see Ichigo and Rukia looking at them from across the way. The look they gave her was a little bit unsettling, Rukia looked a little happy but Ichigo on the other hand looked a bit worried.

Just then three people entered the back room of the shop where they were all sitting. If you looked everywhere in that town you probably wouldn't find a stranger looking group of people to be walking down the streets together. There were two boys and a girl, one of the boys was dressed rather stiffly and kept pushing his glasses up his nose with his middle finger. The bracelet on his wrist was rather interesting, it had a cross with a circle around the middle, he didn't look at all pleased to be there and Ana felt a little guilty since this was all her fault.

The girl on the other hand had hair the color of burnt orange and Ana thought fondly of home and rivalries, she wore a long skirt with a large flower pattern on it and in her hair were two blue pins that didn't match anything she was wearing. The otherwise normal girl seemed to have been well blessed in the chest region and Ana felt a strange sense of inadequacy wash over her.

Last but not least Ana couldn't tell if he was a man or a boy, he was tall, far taller than her and he reminded her of her brothers and uncles who had been just as tall. She was sure that he had not lived in Japan all of his life since he looked much to different, the Hawaiian shirt that he was wearing was a little weird but other than that he looked like someone you wouldn't want to mess with.

"Ah, nice to see you could all make it here together." Urahara didn't even bother getting up to greet them and they came and sat down, the girl on the other side of Ana and the two boys in the other empty spaces at the already crowded table. "Miss Cruz these are the people I was telling you about, the ones with high sprit energy just like you."

The girl turned towards Ana and bowed a little before smiling up at her "I'm Orihime, it's so nice to meet you finally! Uryu was telling me just a few weeks ago that someone had moved into town that might be like us and it got me thinking of what powers you could have. What if you have the power to turn yourself invisible? Wouldn't that be cool? Or maybe you can shoot fire balls from your eyes or make tunnels like Nova!" Ana didn't know what to make of this girl, her imagination seemed far more developed than the average teenagers.

"I don't think I have any powers." The crestfallen look on Orihimes' face was a little heartbreaking. "But I might, I just have never tried." The girls face brightened and Ana felt a little better.

"Your certainly not a Quincy." The boy with the stiff clothes had finally spoken up and he seemed disappointed in his assessment. "I'm Uryu Ishida, nice to meet you." He bowed his head and pushed his glasses back up his nose while he gazed at her in an odd way. "If your waiting for me to do a trick your going to have to wait awhile." After that he looked away from her and began talking to Ichigo on his other side.

"I'm sorry, its just been a long day, and I don't even know what a Quincy is, maybe you could explain it later." He looked back over to her and shrugged, not terribly polite but it was better than nothing. "I'm Yasutora Sado." She wasn't sure where it had come from but in all likely hood it had come from the big boy sitting next to Rukia.

Ichigo shrugged and poked him in the shoulder, "Ah come on Chad, don't be so formal, I think it'll be easier for her to remember your name if she can just call you Chad." He looked at Ana for a brief second and then down at the table. "You can call me Chad."

She smiled at him and laughed a little, "Whatever is fine with you, I'll be happy to call you whatever you like." She could tell that he was a quiet person, not exactly shy but a person who had better things to do than fill the silence with chatter.

"Okay then now that we're all acquainted we can come up with a plan to keep Miss Cruz safe from the Hollows, that is until I can asses if she has any powers to protect herself with." Ana didn't like the sound of the word asses as he had seemed particularly giddy when he had said it.

Three hours later it had been decided that Ichigo would go home with Rukia who it turned out lived in his closet when she was in the living world, Ana hadn't known what to make of that besides that they must be very close. Renji was to place himself outside of her home and Orihime, Uryu and Chad were to be with her during the day if one of the Shinigami could not be.

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So this is part one I've decided, it was really hard to stop writing so you get two chapters in one day! YAY! Be happy that I've gotten past my writers block, and I hope that you decided to leave reviews because nothing makes me happier than a review.


	8. Chapter 8

Okay, Okay here is the continuation of the last chapter, or it could be a chapter by itself, I dunno, you decided.

As always all disclaimers apply… yada yada yada…

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After the decisions were made as to who would do what Ana and the rest of everyone were sent out of the shop, as Urahara had said that he had some very important business to attend to. Ana didn't like the sound of that either but no one else seemed bothered so she let it go and turned her attention to Orihime who was bounding up to her.

"I hope we become really good friends during this!" Orihime had exclaimed , by now it was rather dark and Ichigo was grouching about what Isshin would try to ambush him with when he got home. Renji had stayed behind to talk to Urahara about something so Chad was walking her home along with Ichigo and Rukia who seemed to be in a world of their own as they walked side by side ahead of Ana and Chad.

"So have you lived your entire life in Japan Chad?" She wanted to know more about him but he seemed to really like to be quiet. "No, I spent some time with my grandfather in Mexico when I was young." and that was all he said about it.

Reaching her house Chad turned and waved at the group before continuing to his own home, Rukia walked a few more feet away towards Ichigos house but stopped when she realized that he was still standing with Ana at her door while she let herself in.

"You need to be really careful when your by yourself okay? And don't let Renji be to rude okay, he'll eat all the food in your fridge if you let him." She nodded and looked towards Rukia who seemed to be watching the sky for something. "I'll be fine Ichigo, you worry to much." She opened her door and watched him walk away and if she didn't know any better she could have sworn that she saw them hold hands for the brief walk to his door and let go when it opened to let them in.

"How nice is that?" She had her head poked out of her door and was getting ready to close it when a voice startled her. "What's nice?" Renji had appeared before her in his gigai, looking just as normal as ever.

"Nothing, its none of your business." She glared up at him and then shut the door and locked it. She felt bad for leaving him out there when it looked like it was going to rain but she was still mad at him for leaving her out of the loop.

"Hey! Ana! What's wrong with you? What did I do that you're so pissed off at me?" There was no answer from the door that he was yelling at but he could hear her moving around in the kitchen if he listened to the door. "Women." He shrugged and sat down on her one step leading to her door.

An hour later Ana woke up with a start to the sound of thunder and felt the guilt pouring down like the rain for not letting Renji in before it had started. Getting up and pulling on a robe she went to the door and opened it, apparently he had been sleeping because when she opened it he toppled into her hallway sopping wet and hardly awake. "What the hell?" he looked up at her from his position on the floor and smiled. "Decided to forgive me for whatever it was that I did?" She frowned at him, he didn't even know what it was but this was no time for arguments, he looked like he was cold.

"Get up, I'll get you a towel or something. Just like Ichigo, sitting out in the rain when you could be…" She didn't get to finish her sentence because he had grabbed her by her wrist and pulled her back towards him to look her straight in the eye.

"I'm nothing like him okay?" He seemed upset about something, like he didn't know what else to do with himself. "He get everything and I get nothing, he gets the power, the glory, the girl…" He trailed off and his grip on her wrist tightened. Now she understood, Renji liked Rukia and now Ichigo had her, Renji obviously didn't think it was fair. "I'm sure he's not doing any of it on purpose…"

Renji was shaking his head spraying her with drops of water, "I know he's not but still its not fair, he's getting everything, even…" he didn't finish his sentence he just looked at Ana and seemed sad and then she understood, Renji thought that Ichigo was going to get her too.

"Ichigo is my friend, his sister is like my sister, and he is like my brother." She started to pull away from him but Renji stepped forward crowding her against a wall, not quite touching but close enough that she could feel how warm he was even though he was soaking wet. "Renji? I don't think that you being in wet clothes is a good idea, your going to catch a cold. I have some of my brothers old things that might fit you until yours dry off." She wasn't sure what she was doing, she was babbling, not knowing what else to do she was trying to give herself and him a route out of this situation.

He didn't take it, he never would have taken it unless she had flat out punched him and asked him what the hell he thought he was doing. But she didn't, she just stood there with wide eyes and a messy braid down to her neck, a drop of water was sitting at the corner of her mouth where it had come to rest after he had shook his head.

Ana didn't know what to do, on the one hand she wanted to go back to bed but on the other she wanted to stay exactly where she was, to see what he would do, the look he was giving her didn't really register in her mind as any look she had received before. He leaned closer to her and she breathed out slowly, he was still looking at her and she found it almost unsettling to be examined like this.

Renji was deciding on something, he had wanted to do this since he had seen her tattoo, and now here she was not trying to get away or looking scared, she was calm as someone could be in this situation. He stepped a little closer, closing the space between them, he felt her shiver as his shirt soaked through her robe and then in one swift movement he closed the space between their faces.

Her first instinct was to hit him, but she fought that down since she had technically stood there and let him do it, she could have said no. Her second instinct was the one that had won out over the first, and that was to wrap her arms around his neck and hold on like she would never let go, which at this moment she didn't.

"I'm sorry, I should have asked you first." Renji had pulled away from her and was looking like a guilty kid who had just broken something and then hidden it. "Yeah but that's okay, sometimes you shouldn't ask permission for things." She went and got a towel and threw it at him along with some old clothes that smelled like they had been in storage for awhile. "Here, there are blankets on the couch and the bathroom is down the hall. I'm going back to bed now." She looked at him one more time before turning towards her door and going through.

So two people lay in different rooms pondering the action that they had just taken towards each other. One feeling victory over someone and the other not quite sure what they were feeling at the moment, friends were easy, emotional attachment to another human being was hard.

Later in the morning when she woke up he was gone, her brothers clothes folded neatly and a pastry that she had had was gone as well. It seemed to answer her question, last night, that kiss had been nothing, it had been Renji proving that he could have what Ichigo couldn't. In her mind it didn't hurt that much but for some reason she felt like crying but there was no time for that because the doorbell was ringing.

"Ana, I've missed you so much, I'm sorry that I haven't been over in awhile." Yuzu stood there with breakfast in tow, it worried her that Ana had a strange habit of skipping breakfast and if Yuzu had anything in her arsenal it was to get people to eat.

"Oh, Yuzu, I'm so happy to see you." She rubbed her eyes to make sure that any traces of how upset she was were left, Yuzu was a sharp girl though and had caught onto the slight puffiness and the tone of voice that was not familiar in her friend. "What's wrong Ana?" She stepped into the house and took off her shoes.

"Oh nothing, I just slept badly last night, its nothing." She smiled to show the girl that everything was okay but Yuzu suspected that it had something to do with her brothers friend that she had seen sitting outside of Ana's house when she had gone to put the trash out.

"Okay, if you say so." Yuzu was worried but she would talk to Ichigo about it later, she didn't want to upset Ana if she could help it.

They ate the breakfast over a nice conversation and the day was going well until Renji strolled back into the house as if he owned the place and caught the attention of Ana only, Yuzu didn't see him at all because he was in his Shinigami form, without his human body only she could see him.

"Are you okay? You look like you just got mad all of a sudden." Yuzus' hand on her arm seemed to snap her out of it and she stood up from the table. "No, I'm fine, I just need to make a phone call for a job that I applied at. I'll come by and see you and your family later okay?"

Yuzu smiled, Ana had never come over to their house, she could really make dinner for her then and her dad would be so excited to have a guest. "Okay, I'll make you dinner then and you can stay and talk with everyone." They said their goodbyes at the door and when Ana closed it Renji decided to start talking.

"Sorry, I left so early this morning but after last night I figured that it was for the best, oh and by the way that bun thing you had on the counter was good, I hope you don't mind that I ate it since there were a few left." He scratched the back of his head and looked at her as she came walking back into the common area with a look of hurt indifference on her face.

"It doesn't matter to me what you do or don't do, and I agree that last night was weird and shouldn't have happened." She was trying to be an adult about this but apparently when two people are on different pages things seem to go wrong.

Renji didn't know what to make of her statement, she had said it was weird and that it was a mistake, but she had also said that she had agreed with him on those points, he had never said that, but he was ashamed that he had pushed himself on her last night.

She had her back to him and was looking through one of her bookshelves for something to ignore him with. But it was the breath on the back of her neck that made it hard to ignore. "What are you doing now?" She shook her head and her braid hit him in the neck and he backed up enough for her to turn around and look at him.

"I was trying to say that I was sorry but you were to busy ignoring me to hear it." He looked hurt but she couldn't figure out why, nor did she really want to at the moment. "You're a confusing man. Maybe you should go while I figure out what's going on. Ichigo and Rukia are right down the street, I'll be safe." She turned back to the bookcase and waited until she heard him sigh in defeat and walk towards the door. She didn't hear it open or shut but she knew he was gone, so she sat on her couch and thought through all of the things that had developed over the last few days.

"I guess life is never boring in this town."

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Yes yes I know lame ending, I get it. But I would appreciate reviews…. Now… food time.


	9. Chapter 9

I am sorry that I am so late on a chapter, I've just had so much going on that I haven't really had time to write but now I do! Yay! Sorry if this chapter isn't as good as the last ones but I'm a little rusty now. Thanks for the reviews on the last chapter, they were much appreciated.

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Yuzu practically skipped home, she was a happy child to begin with but when it involved someone coming to dinner then there were no bounds on her happiness. She thought of all of the things that she could make for dinner and settled on Oden, she was going to make it later in the week anyways and she had listen to Ana tell her about this great soup that she had had but didn't know the name of.

Ichigo and Rukia were sitting on the couch when Yuzu got home, Ichigo was a little curious as to why she was so happy, Rukia just assumed it had to do with Ana in some way or another, she had noticed that Yuzu was fairly attached to the older girl. "What's up Yuzu?" Ichigo had finally given up guessing in his own mind and decided to ask her himself.

"Ana is coming to dinner, I think she had a hard night last night because of that guy with red hair sitting outside her doorstep knocking for a long time." She looked at Ichigo and she noticed Rukia stiffen just a bit but she relaxed for some reason when Ichigo put a hand on her shoulder.

Her brothers smile could make her not worry about anything because she knew that if he was smiling then not much was wrong in the world at all. "Don't worry about it Yuzu, that guy is a friend of ours and Ana is mad at him right now for not telling her about certain things." Ichigo stood up from the couch and put his hand on the head of his still slightly worried sister. "I'll go talk to her if that will make you feel better."

Yuzu smiled up at him a radiant little smile and nodded her head, "Yes, that would make me feel better, and then you can bring her back to wait for dinner." Rukia looked to Ichigo from where she was still sitting on the couch and nodded to him, she understood what he was doing so she would help.

"Yuzu, can I help with the cooking?" She had on her big eyes that she used on his family that got them to accept whatever offer she had for them. Yuzu turned and looked at Rukia that still happy smile on her face, "Of course you can, I love it when you help me in the kitchen." In the back of her mind the young girl wondered when her brother would snap to his senses and admit that he liked Rukia.

Ichigo left his house intent on finding out what was up between Renji and Ana but he had decided to ask Ana first since she would probably have a better explanation as to what was going on as opposed to Renji who probably wouldn't have a clue.

He felt slightly awkward knocking on her door since he had never technically been there by himself without her dragging him in against his will. He knocked again to see if she was in there and decided that she wasn't and turned around to go back home when the door opened to a very irritated Ana. "Yes?" She poked her head out of the door and looked up and down the sidewalk before standing aside to let him in.

"Umm… Yuzu told me that you might have had issues with Renji last night so I just came to see if you wanted to talk about it or something." He scratched the back of his head as he stepped into her entryway and took off his shoes to follow her to the living room where she sat down on the couch.

"Your sister knows Renji?" She looked at him skeptically and shrugged not really sure that Yuzu should know Renji or not. "Well no she doesn't know him officially she's just seen him around and when she described him I knew who it was standing outside your door last night." He shrugged and looked down at her where she had her head in her hands.

Ichigo was not used to having girl in this sort of crisis around him needing support, his sisters weren't old enough for that yet and his dad took care of most of the minor hurts that came along with growing up. "Are you okay?" He sat down on the couch next to her and did what every guy does, he patted her on the back.

"I'm fine, just really confused about what happened between him and I last night." She had meant the kiss but Ichigo, being a boy, had his mind jump to something much worse and he could feel himself getting angry, not out of jealousy but out of protection, Ana had been a good friend to him and she stood just below Yuzu and Karin on the scale of what he would do.

"I'm going to go kick his ass." Ana had never seen Ichigo angry, and she had to admit that it was a sort of scary thing to behold. The other thing that scared her was that she could feel the difference in his posture, like he was two people instead of one, and the other person was a much more violent than Ichigo.

"What? Why?" She thought quickly about what she had just said and shook her head rather violently and put her hand on his arm to keep him from getting up. "It's not what you think it is! He just kissed me is all and I'm just as much to blame because I stood there and let him do it!" She stood up when he stood up and she noticed that his eyes had changed color slightly, they were more gold than brown and the whites were darker than they should be.

"Ichigo?" She pulled hard on his arm and he seemed to snap out of whatever was happening to him. "What?" He looked down at her and then away like he was ashamed. "I'm sorry, I thought something else when you said that and well it made me mad." He shook his head and sat back down on the couch.

Ana was slower to sit, she knew that there was something wrong about what had just happened but she decided not to push it at all, whatever that had been it was scary and she never wanted to see that again. "Well, what's done is done, I'm sorry I worried Yuzu and I'm sorry that you got the wrong message but really nothing can be done about it by anyone but him and I." She shook her head and shrugged, "Thank you for coming by though, it made me feel better to know that someone cares."

Ichigo was looking at the carpet ignoring the malicious voice that echoed through his head and trying to pay attention to Ana, "Your welcome, anytime you need someone to help you out you can just call me if you want." He stood up from the couch and started walking towards the door. "Now, your coming with me because Yuzu intends to feed you and by now I'm pretty sure my dad has found out and is bouncing off the walls." He held the door open for her as she followed him out of the house and down the street to his.

Ichigo opened the door and walked in the door and took off his shoes, the proceeded to dodge his fathers attack and take a moment to yell about him about not doing that when they had company over.

Ana had a look on her face, a mad blank look and it wasn't because of any of the antics of Ichigos father it was because of the redhead sitting on the couch next to Rukia laughing at something on the T.V., "Oh hey Ana!" He had turned around to see who had come in the door and Rukia looked sheepish. "He came by and then Isshin suggest he have dinner with us…" She trailed off and went to stand next to Ana and put her hand on her arm and whispered to her.

"He has a side to his story, even though he's not sure what it is that your so mad about." Rukia looked up at the girl and patted her arm. "At least listen to him." Ana shrugged and put on a happier face just to make sure no one else noticed the awkward moment. Rukia felt kind of guilty but on the other hand Renji had been her friend since they were children in the Rukongai and she couldn't just stand by when he had asked a favor of her like this.

Ichigo shook his head and realized that this was going to be an awkward dinner.

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Ahh!!!! Lame! Lame endings!!! I cant even help it anymore… someone feel free to shoot me… but review first because then I can die slightly happy.


	10. Chapter 10

So yeah… I'm back with another chapter, this may be a little lame so forgive me if it's not up to par with your expectations… I've been really tired and dealing with a complicated love issue myself so forgive if it sounds a little bitter.

Disclaimer: I can't draw therefore I do not own Bleach.

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Dinner was mostly silent, which is either a good sign because the food is delicious or is a bad sign because there company is so tense in each others presence that they will not speak unless forced.

Yuzu assumed it was because the food was good and everyone was happy but tired from their various days out and about doing whatever it was that they do. Ichigo knew better, and so did Karin and Rukia who were sitting on either side of the pair causing the tension.

"So Ana, what is it you plan on doing for work?" The ever oblivious Isshin Kurosaki broke the silence with the odd question directed at the very glum looking girl wedged between Karin and Yuzu. "If you need a job I could use some help around the clinic when Yuzu and Karin are in school, that way they don't have to work so hard and can be the lovely and gentle girls that I raised them to be." Yuzu beamed, Karin shrugged and said something smart about him not being able to be gentle and lovely if he tried.

Ana looked up and around to the head of the table where Isshin sat and bowed her head in thanks, "Thank you Kurosaki-San for the offer but, I really couldn't take advantage of you like that." Which was mostly true, but honestly she couldn't stand the sight of blood hardly at all.

Renji was eating his soup slowly, which was odd for him since he usually just ate as fast as the food was set in front of him. Rukia was one to notice these things and she knew it did not bode well for any kind of after dinner conversation that he and Ana were going to have.

"Don't worry about it Ana-Chan, your not taking advantage of anyone, in fact I'm sure that everyone in the family would be glad to have you around more." Isshin wasn't as silly as people took him for, he knew that his little Yuzu needed a girl older than herself around, not that Rukia wasn't doing a good job but she was always running off with Ichigo who was gone far to much for the blonde twins taste.

Ana had been watching Renji pick something methodically out of his soup which she even knew was very odd when Isshin addressed her again. "Oh, well then I guess I'll think about it." She looked down at her own bowl then and then over at Yuzu who was smiling up at her and talking about how much fun it would be to have her working in the clinic.

"I could teach you where everything is and how to deal with the difficult patients who think that they know everything!" When Yuzu was this happy it was hard to tell her no, Ichigo knew this so he knew it was only a matter of time before Ana gave in to Yuzu and his father and agreed to work in the clinic.

"Ichigo?" Yuzu was talking to him now as she cleared the dishes off of the table full of tense silent people, "Could you and Rukia help me wash the dishes?" Yuzu knew what was going on to some extent, she wasn't happy and oblivious to everything, and the awkwardness leaking from Ana and her brothers friend was something that they needed to fix on their own, not with Ichigo and Rukia pushing them from both sides.

"Yeah sure, we'll help." Rukia got up and patted Renji on the back before following Ichigo and Yuzu into the kitchen. Isshin got up and said something about paperwork and Karin just left the table to go watch a soccer game on the T.V. leaving Renji and Ana sitting across the table staring at each other.

"So…." Renji didn't even get to finish before Ana stood up and walked out towards the door. "Hey!" getting up and following her was easy, he had longer legs by some and she was only going out of the back door, she hadn't even taken her shoes, she couldn't be going far.

Earlier in the day it had been bright and clear, now it was raining fat drops that he hadn't heard from inside of the house, he was worried now, what if she was standing out there somewhere and caught a cold?

"Ana!" He looked around and yelled for her, there wasn't very much light reaching toward this section of the house and he couldn't see very well but he still kept looking just the same.

"What?" She was standing there looking at him from around the corner of the house, her dark hair was plastered to her head and her eyelashes clung together with drops of water that ran from the top of her head.

She looked at him standing there, dry and seeming hesitant with stepping out into the rain as so many people seemed to be. "I guess nothing…" She turned back to hide behind the corner of the house, away from his eyes that questioned why she was standing out in the rain alone. He hadn't said anything so she supposed that it was unimportant, that someone had just sent him out here to check on her.

"I dislike standing out in the rain, it reminds me of my childhood and living out in the streets not being able to find a dry enough place to go to sleep at." She looked around to see him standing there next to her in the rain on the side of the house.

"Best reason I've heard for not liking it in a long time." she wiped the water out of her eyes and looked away from him, "So why are you out here if you don't like it at all?" She was looking at a tree not to far from them, she need to focus on something anything other than him standing there next to her.

He shrugged, his hair was no longer standing straight up out of its ponytail, it was soggy and dropping with the weight of the water that hit him. She took a quick glance at him when he didn't answer and caught herself wondering how long his hair really was, probably much longer than her own.

"I guess it's because your out here." He looked away from her as well, when two people don't know how to speak about certain things they tend to beat around the bush and avoid eye contact at all costs.

Ana looked away from him again and then it was his turn to stare at her, he never really realized how sad she looked, even her posture was weighted down by something, but he supposed that it was just the rain making her look like that.

"Well, I'm fine, if you don't want to be out here you don't have to be. I'll probably get my shoes in a minute and go home so I don't worry anyone." She was giving him a chance to tell her something, showing him that if he chose to stay that it was fine with her.

Renji looked down at her and their eyes met while he considered his answer, "Nah, I'll stay out here, not like I want to be in there with them anyways." She knew who he was talking about, he didn't want to see Rukia and Ichigo together.

"You have to get over that some time you know…" She had moved closer to him while still leaning against the side of the house, the rain was starting to thin a little bit.

He seemed to droop with what she told him, "I know that, but it doesn't mean that I have to watch them, really they can do whatever they want."

Ana ran her hand through her hair that was now completely soaked and walked around him and came back with her shoes in her hand and started walking home. "You can do whatever you want to as well Renji, your happiness is what you grab and hold on to." She thought he wouldn't follow her, she thought he wouldn't say anything but she was wrong.

First it was her wrist that he grabbed on to and held for what felt like forever as she turned and looked at him with a question in her eyes. The yank that he gave to said wrist was not hurtful in anyway but it pulled her off balance and closer to him but he didn't speak any words as she stood there looking up at him waiting for what he was going to do.

"I don't know what you think happened or what you think I wanted to forget but you were wrong." His grip tightened on her wrist and she brought her other hand up to latch onto his wrist, it was an odd picture but there it was nonetheless.

She looked away from him and his grip loosened just a bit but she didn't take her hand away like he thought that she would. "I thought that you kissing me had to do with beating Ichigo at something, I thought that you just wanted to forget it because you had done what you need to make yourself feel better." She started to step away from him but his grip tightened again and he pulled her just a bit closer to himself.

"Don't be stupid." She jerked her head up and looked at him, in the gloom his tattoos seemed to sink into his skin and become darker, but it was far from scary for her, it was pretty and she couldn't stop herself from reaching up and touching the one that slashed its way down the side of his neck.

Renji just watched her, she seemed to have lost focus on what they were talking about and he reached up and grabbed her hand. "I'm not stupid, I just don't trust people that easily, and when you were gone the next morning without a note or anything to tell me what was going on I just assumed what I did." She looked away again and he let go of her completely.

"I want to go home." She didn't step away though, she just stood there and looked at the ground, at the lamp post, the rock on the side of the road, anywhere but him.

He didn't understand what was going on but he knew that she wanted more than to go home, that or she needed more, she had seemed to lose her energy after the few seconds of telling him what she had to say. "Come on then, I'll take you home."

"What?" She looked up at him she didn't know what to say to that, she hadn't even know that it would come out of his mouth. "You don't have to, I'm fine, really." To prove her point she turned around and walked away from him towards her door, only to be stopped again by his hand around her wrist.

This time the pull that he gave was harder and dragged her into a hug, he didn't hug people hardly at all, or ever for that matter now that he thought about it but he decided that he liked hugging.

Ana didn't respond at first, she just stood there with her arms limp at her sides before her brain kicked in and she returned the hug, realizing that it was the first time someone had hugged her since she had lost her family.

Renji thought that his shirt that had been drying after the rain had stopped felt a little more wet than it had a few seconds ago. "Are you okay?" He had noticed that she had started shaking and then his question was answered a few seconds later when she let out a sob that scared him.

"Ana…" he tried to step back to look at her but she gripped the back of his shirt and held him closer to her as she cried.

"I'm sorry" She shook her head as she buried her head into his chest embarrassed of herself, "I'm so sorry, I just…" She stepped away from him and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and turned away from him.

Renji just looked at her back as she huddled down in on herself as she started back to her door that was only a few feet away. He walked towards her and then stopped, he wasn't sure what had happened to her or why she was crying exactly but he didn't know what to do for her to make it stop.

"Renji?" She had her door open but wasn't quite inside yet, he stepped closer to her in response but didn't say anything. Ana turned suddenly and grabbed his hand and pulled him inside with her and left him to close the door.

She walked away from him and he heard a door close farther into the house, by the time he got to the living room and sat down she was walking out of the bathroom in dry clothes and stood there looking at him.

"I haven't been hugged in a long time, I'm sorry that I cried like that it just reminded me of something." She was looking over his shoulder, almost like she was looking through him. She shuffled closer to the couch but didn't sit down. "I think that there is a feeling that I haven't felt in a long time…" She stopped then and looked away from him completely, Renji felt like he had just been punched in the stomach, he felt nervous and his fingertips started to tingle so he did the only logical thing that he could think of, he stood up and hugged her again.

She started crying again, and it was the most embarrassing thing that had ever happened to her, she usually wasn't this weepy and she wasn't sure if she liked this feeling if this was what it did to her.

Renji stroked her hair while she cried and when she started to dry up he sat her down on the couch and stood next to it not sure what to do next, he wasn't used to having someone acknowledge his feelings for them or admit to having feelings for him.

Ana reached up and pulled him down on the couch with her, "You can leave if you want, thank you for staying with me and tolerating my weepiness." She seemed drained from all of the crying that she did, and she leaned to the side and curled up on the other half of the couch that wasn't taken up by Renji and promptly fell asleep.

"It was no problem, don't feel bad." He watched her curl up and shook his head, he gently moved her aside and laid down behind her, she sighed in her sleep and turned in towards him, he put his arm around her so she wouldn't fall off in her sleep and laid there with her trying to think about all that had happened.

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It went from irritated to sappy all in one large chapter… forgive me, I'm going through a lot of stuff right now that has a direct line to what I write. Sorry for the sappiness and I would appreciate reviews telling me how I can improve, thank you.


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